Never shot one myself, but my educated guess: It'll be more than an M16/AR15 (obviously, those things barely have a recoil), but it's not going to knock you on your butt by any means. Remember, these rifles were used in combat, so soldiers had to fire these things A LOT and ACCURATELY, two things which an overly large recoil would stop. I'd guess it'd probably be pretty close to my Swedish Mauser. As long as you hold it tight to your shoulder (like you should with ANY rifle/shotgun), you'll be fine